Choosing Apps

Choosing apps to use in a school setting needs to be about the learning. The reality is that we also need to consider the
Technical considerations such as

– What level of internet access is needed Can you provide it?
– How many users will use the device?
– Does the app require login information – Can it be and should it be memorized?
– What is the size of the app?
– Does the app allow / require in app purchases?
– How will the devices be physically managed and synchronized

App Evaluation
There is no way to find the best 25 apps, nor should we seek out the best 25 apps. That would be like saying we want to have the best 25 books in our library. We wouldn’t consider a library of 25 books to meet the reading and information needs of the whole school. We also wouldn’t decide to look for any new, different, or better ones.

No need to have a list of district approved apps.
No need to check out every app that somebody else says is a ‘great’ app.

Start your search for the perfect app with an understanding of where do we want to get?
Educational choosing of the apps should be a self regulated curation process.

There are five areas of apps you may want to seek out; however, most of our apps should be for creation or communication:

content,
creativity,
communication,
productivity,
and special education.

Where should we start to educationally choose apps?

http://langwitches.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/iPadAppEvaluation.pdf
http://www.Appitic.com – over 1800 evaluated apps with multidimensional criteria
ask your PLN what they are using

To focus on Creativity and Communication

Are students able to communicate and improve their communication?
Are students able explore and be creative?

Shelagh Lim @shelagh09 did some great work helping to distinguish apps from ‘cr’apps
http://www.dlc-ubc.ca/wordpress_dlc_mu/lim/year-two-courses/edcp-562-fall-2011/apps-crapps-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-apps/